Contract War, Year 1 Month 2, Combat Report
Did something different and very obvious with the formatting of this update that should hopefully make it easier to understand what's going on while cutting down on character to a degree. If instead you find the colors too much, do let me know. Any equipment not described in this report was outlined in the last one.
Rosa Knight and a fireteam of quality
Terrestrial soldiers were stacking up in the entrance to a room on the 33rd story of an apartment tower in
Grid C-4, one of four in this particular housing project. Skirmishing and scouting over the last month led to a series of engagements with
Victory Services, but the
Consortium had pulled out of the area, and the
Panzer-Grenadier-Battalion "Donnerschlag" was tasked with pushing through the flank they'd abandoned. The plan was to strike the VS as they made their own way through to claim ground for themselves. Instead, the Outfit found themselves engaged in brutal block-by-block fighting against the
1-4-1 Vanguard. Both outfits prided themselves in their ability to smash enemy positions with a large vehicle contingent supported by infantry, and while there was fighting elsewhere in the sector, the worst of it was where these two hammers struck one another.
While Terrestrial artillery could have brought those towers down, they provided quite the view of the rest of the sector, as well as a solid staging ground for pressing further through the sector. As a result, both sides saw themselves repeatedly grinding into each other over the same buildings, flanking and cutting one another off in turn as if they were some sort of self-devouring ouroboros.
Rosa was
Heavy Assault, armed with a
"Bulldog" LGM (7.62mm LMG with 60-round box or 100-round belt operating at 650RPM), an
"Adjutant" Pistol, a
Basic Overshield Generator, and
Legacy of Terra Armor. Her squad had been communicating largely by hand after they'd turned off their IFF and comms. systems thanks to
Operator presence in the area, and with any luck the signal spoofers installed in their newly-developed
Upgraded Omnivisor Suites (All Omnivisor Suites now have a pair of buttons in a small compartment to control IFF and comms. signal power, as well as a signal spoofer that continues giving hackers false information while the systems are disconnected) had convinced the VS they were elsewhere.
She was second in line to go through this door, and was thankful for it. The pointman was obliterated by a fireball of hardlight as he kicked in the door.
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Mason and Jason, the Booth Twins, were were members of the
1-4-1 Vanguard, and had already died a half-dozen times each in the fighting over the projects. The latest TR assault had cut reinforcements off yet again, and the lower floors were all being blasted through
yet again, and the two of them had found themselves on a suicide mission to slow down the enemy push upwards
yet again. Quite frankly they almost hoped they'd finally lose this fight just for a change in scenery.
Mason was certified as
Light Assault, who were now given only a
Basic Jump Pack and an
"Immolator" Shattergun (an upsized take on the ShotPistol that fires a devastating cloud of hardlight filament out to 30m. Blocky but more comfortable. Has a foldable stock, pistol grip, and a pump action/forward grip that triggers recharging and produces the unnecessary-but-totally-necessary sound of a traditional shell racking).
Jason, meanwhile, was a
Combat Medic, and given just as much equipment: the same
"Immolator" Shattergun and the
"Caduceus" Medical Applicator (A Nanite Medical System housed in the bracers of Combat Medic combat armor. Can quickly revive fatally wounded soldiers. Houses and produces nanites fast enough to rarely have an issue with supply vs demand. Can also apply a nanite cloud for automatic wound healing without Medic intervention lasting for a few minutes). With the absolute surplus of medical equipment production thanks to their control of the medical facilities in D3 there were more
Caduceus' (Cadeuci?) available than certifiable medics.
Their unit was on the 33rd floor in a respectable suite with a beautiful view of the battlefield. Some
Engineers, armed with the
"Monolith" Laser Rifle,
"Razer" ShotPistol,
"Hephaestian" Repair Tool (A repair nanite dispenser system installed in the bracers of an Engineer's armor, works slightly faster than the Basic Repair Tool, doesn't overheat as much, and can repair significant damage to constructed objects), and
"Illuminator" AntiArmor Turret (A remote controlled deployable turret with a devastating 8cm beam but long recharge time with targets automatically tracked after being painted by a laser), had set up a bank of their turrets in the windows overlooking the nearest rooftops. With the
Wasps dominating the skies, their
Ospreys set about the task of landing above VS positions and applying pressure from the revive points they provided, and this was one of the few ways the VS of deterring that tactic.
Operators had been keeping tabs on a group of TR a few floors below them when the door into the hallway was abruptly kicked open. Mason was closest when the door flew open and was quick to fire at the Terrestrial silhouette in the doorway. A dense cloud of hardlight filament blasted the intruder. Even the
Legacy of Terra Armor deployed across the Certified TR forces had difficulty withstanding the blast. Mason pumped the
"Immolator" with a satisfying
shickshick and fired again before the Terrestrial soldier could recover, sending him reeling backwards against the now-scorched wall on the opposite side of the hall in a smoking heap.
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Knight stuck the barrel of her gun through the door and sprayed into the room while her squadmates pulled the smoldering soldier out of the line of fire. The fireteam's
Combat Medic, equipped with the extremely cumbersome
"Herald" Heavy Medical Applicator (a large rifle-like healing tool attached to a large backpack capable of healing multiple people at once, and is capable of continuous use), an
"Adjutant" Pistol, and
Legacy of Terra Armor, set to targeting the severely wounded soldier and linked his
"Herald" up to Knight and two others as well.
Knight swung her body into the doorway and rapidly pounded shots into a
Combat Medic trying to revive a downed teammate, but a blast from yet another VS in the room armed with the
"Immolator" shredded her overshield and forced her to take cover again before she could deal more damage. Another
Heavy Assault cycled into the doorway to throw more lead into the room. The fire coming from both sides of the doorway was intense as TR soldiers had to cycle out due to wounds and the occasional death, but after a few solid minutes of heavy fighting the fire from within had subsided. Knight was first into the room and yet again took down a
Combat Medic trying to revive a dead soldier. The furniture in the living room/kitchen was splinters, and blood was spattered everywhere. One of the
"Illuminator" Turrets turned into the room and fired it's beam through the door, just past Knight and clear through another TR soldier. Knight spotted the
Engineer controlling the thing taking cover in a doorway leading off of the main room. She managed to remove the top of her skull before the Engie ducked back into the other room.
With the rooms cleared out, Knight took a step towards the large busted windows that made up an entire wall of the suite. The turrets positioned by the dead
Engineers had deconstructed and left room for Knight to admire the view before turning comms back on.
"We've cleared Nest 33."
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An
Operator on the 34th floor finally got a reliably strong signal from a TR source beneath him and signaled to an
Infiltrator to prime a
Nanite Deconstruction System. Ewan Perry,
Heavy Assault, was armed with a
"Scourge" Rapidfire Energy System (an energy LMG capable of firing 8mm rounds at 100RPM, has issues but better range than typical LMGs), a
"Razer" ShotPistol, a
Basic Overshield Generator, and a pair of
Secondary Power Cores (power sources that provide additional overshields), and ready for some action.
The floor around the
Nanite Deconstruction System began to crumble and within moments the nanites had caused the floor to collapse into the room below. One of their
Heavy Assault was standing by the broken windows and turned towards the new hole in the ceiling that Ewan was already firing through. The TR soldier, caught off-guard, took a handful of shots before returning fire. Her overshield flickered and failed before Ewan's had drained through it's first backup core. More TR returned fire, but Ewan was able to shoot the
Heavy Assault out through the window before he pulled back out of view. Two
Light Infantry fired through the hole at the rest of the TR below, engulfing them in a series of withering hardlight blasts. Once Ewan's shields charged back to full he jumped down through the hole with a sickening
crunch as he landed with both boots on a Terrestrial spine, and immediately fired upon the few TR left trying not to trip through the doorway as they pulled back out of the room. As he heard them pulling back, Ewan turned and looked out the windows at the warscape laid out before him.
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Rahul Bernard,
Pilot, had most of his equipment taken after his death at NC hands, though apparently this was part of a general overhaul and not a specific punishment. He now only had access to an
"Adjutant" Pistol, a
Basic TR Neurohelmet, and an
Upgraded Omnivisor Suite integrated into the helmet. The reduced equipment requirements meant wider deployment of
Pilots, and with the
Upgraded Omnivisor Suite they had more utility in regard to identifying and targeting enemy combatants.
Rahul was holding his
Wasp steady as he used Thermal Imaging to observe some firefight going on in a contested tower. The room in question housed a bank of lasers that Rahul had gotten tired of and was about to take out himself from a distance when a fireteam rolled through the door. The room was a mess of heat signatures as VS energy weapons lashed out at the assaulting force. His people had almost succeeded, were it not for some ceiling assholes who'd dropped on their heads. They hadn't paid attention to Rahul loitering in the distance, and he had fired a handful of rockets to ensure they knew they made a mistake.
The rockets followed the Neurohelmet guidance perfectly, with the six rockets all blasting into the same individual standing near the center of the room. Satisfied that he'd laid waste to a number of VS, Rahul began to fire up his engines and peel off. Some shots from angry infantry struck the
Wasp, but critical damage had been avoided.
"Man," Rahul thought aloud, "This is easier than I'd imagined."
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The air battles in
Grid C-4 were hilariously one-sided.
"Einherjar" Rapid Attack Craft fell victim to
"Wasp" VTOL Strike-Fighters with alarming regularity. They were an elusive target, but the only thing in the skies the TR needed to keep an eye on.
"Osprey" VTOL Transports, while still harassed from the ground, could take their time finding the best landing zones for their troops, and often found prime real estate to set up as mobile spawn points.
The armored assaults in the area carried out by the
1-4-1 Vanguard utilized the speed of their buggies to deliver infantry where needed, while the
"Rampage" Main Battle Tank spearheaded the offensives. The
Rampage boasts a very low profile capable of 100km/h, armed with a 15cm Illuminator and protected by ablative layered armor with a reflective outer layer as well as a protective skirt. The Illuminator fires at Thaw (a weaker beam with longer uptime meant for infantry targets), Bake (standard laser uptime), and Bonfire (a single draining, devastating pulse), with relative accuracy. A remote-controlled Scourge is housed atop the turret. Uses an Emergency Shield as a safety net should it take a few solid hits.
One-on-one, the
Rampage holds itself about even with the
"Destroyer" Main Battle Tank. The
Destroyer was designed with a 125mm autoloading cannon, a 12.7mm machine gun, 105mm-150mm armor, and bricks of Explosive Reactive Armor over vital parts of the tank, and could reach speeds of 60km/h.
The grid of city streets made it easy for
Rampages to set up ambushes and catch TR forces off-guard, and if they got their first strike off it left
Destroyers wounded and in big trouble, and the ERA did little to protect against the main turret of the
Rampage. Past the alpha strike though, the
Destroyers were more than capable of fighting back. The long downtime between
Rampage shots left them very vulnerable to return fire. The restricted environment within the city was not too beneficial to evasive maneuvering, and with
Destroyers more numerous than their VS counterparts, the TR ultimately had a distinct advantage when it came to direct armored combat.
But the
Engineers on both sides had a lot to do with the ultimate success of their ground vehicles.
Engineers were a common sight, and most vehicles had at least one on-hand for repairs. The Emergency Shield in the
Rampagesafforded them the opportunity to repair them, increasing the overall sustainability of VS armor. Their counterpart
Engineers, each armed with an
"Overseer" Battle Rifle,
"Adjutant" Pistol,
TR Repair Tool V2 (a bulky handheld device with heat sinks, liquid cooling, and an extra nanite generator for increased mending capability. Overheats quickly without coolant, and susceptible to wear and tear),
Extra Cooling Charges (a pack of cooling charges for the V2 repair tool that greatly extends usage time), and their everpresent
Legacy of Terra Armor, were a bit less common, but more effective individually thanks to their combat armor keeping them alive longer.
IT was the
Illuminator that proved to be the balancing factor when TR and VS combined arms clashed. The landscape was littered with vantage points for
Engineers to set their turrets up in. Remote control meant that even if return fire came at a gun, the
Engineer was still probably safe.
Ultimately, neither side could win the war in the streets, so it fell to infantry, as always, to win the battle. Unfortunately for the VS, TR ground forces were supported by
"Hail" Artillery Pieces (105mm cannons utilizing HE and HE/AP rounds for soft and hard targets as well as airburst flechette. Mounted on a carriage with ready rack towable by a Teamster. Target areas can be laser designated.) and
"Thunderer" Self-Propelled Artillery (A Renderer with it's roof completely remodeled with an open-top turret housing a
"Hail" Artillery Piece. Armor was cut down to 15mm so it can still tow an Ammo Fabricator while keeping up with it's relatives. Deployable struts provide additional stability. The turret fires at 8 RPM.). While
Tormentors and
Desert Rats provided the VS with great mobility, the TR could pound unimportant positions with reckless abandon. For the more important locations the TR relied on
Renderers and
"Teamster" Armored Logistics Trucks (Renderers stripped down and hollowed out to allow transport of an increased number of men (16) and materials. Can hit speeds of 95km/h, though an Ammo Fabrication trailer can be attached, bringing it's speed back down to around 70km/h. The turret is replaced with a hatch and the sides swing open thanks to hinges at the top.) to get their soldiers safely to their objective.
That said, the room-by-room, building-by-building fighting in the area was a total massacre for both forces. The VS were quick to set up in advantageous positions and, thanks to their
Combat Medics being able to bring back the recently deceased, proved very hard to dislodge without a direct assault.
Legacy of Terra Armor went a long way to improving the results of any offensive, but there are only so many hardlight blasts one can take. What proved to be the biggest problem for the VS was the use of
Ospreys as forward spawn points. TR assaults would crash against VS position in waves, reorganizing and maintaining pressure without giving the VS time to recover. The ability
Combat Medics had to bring their men back to life on-the-spot certainly made their positions more difficult to take out, but some injuries can't be patched over, and eventually the war of attrition would see the TR successfully take VS positions.
VS counterattacks came fast, hard, and frequently, but they were utterly unprepared to deal with the
"Workforce" Engineering Vehicle (A Renderer-based construction truck that uses an open bed containing a large Nanite Manufactory and deployment system in order to break down and clear land to facilitate construction of basic structures. Comes with two basic Prefab blueprints. Nanites can replicate steel, iron, and concrete. Building components have a (limited) snap-to ability. Uses treads and can hit 60km/h.) and the hardened positions they'd put up in intersections and chokepoints as soon as they'd take territory. While few
Workforces saw deployment, their ability to turn a pile of rubble into a bunker had quite an impact on the progress of the battle.
Victory Services fought for every centimeter of
Grid C-4, but were ultimately unable to hold their own. They outnumbered their enemies and had quite a few tricks up their sleeves (including practically free medical equipment), but the TR had steadier reinforcements and quite a lot of support.
Terrestrial Reserve captured
Grid C-4, but it was far from easy. The environment suited VS tactics excessively well, but they lacked the bite to follow up their initial bark. Superior firepower won the day, but not by much.
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Nextgen Consortium had another target in mind: the VS-occupied medical facilities at
Grid D-3.
Victory Services had been quick to occupy the area and lock it down. Dillon Dixon,
Operator had been part of the VS defensive from the start.
The NC were giving him and his dudes plenty of hell, but they were getting quite the bloody nose in return. The NC had deployed a ludicrous number of
Sunderer-V0 Missile Launching Systems (A Sunderer stripped down to the cab and bed with a 20-missile launching system on it. Guidance is damn-near perfect, thanks in part to battlefield information transmitters installed on other vehicles. Has good surface-to-air capability. The Sunderer-V0 travels at 65 km/h but needs to stop to utilize the V0 MLS). The damn things dropped plasma and white phosphorous constantly. The only saving grace was the transmitters the NC installed on everything. It gave Dillon the ability to "see" just about any vehicle nearby and get a bit of warning when a target was being marked. Not that it helped much. Knowing what was coming just gave you the opportunity to prepare to die.
Dillon didn't like the NC much. Being an arachnophobe, Dillon despised the sight of the
Light Assaults (now equipped with an
"Australia" Modular Battle Platform,
UBM-Clyde II,
UBM-Wellington Mk.2, and that fucking
Light Assault Vertical Mobility Harness (now upgraded with
Roofs OS for faster movement and automatic fall recovery). There were almost as many of them as
Light Assaults, and they managed to get all over the fucking place.
Even worse were the tanks. Oh god, the tanks. The
SWT-3 "Iktomi" Scout Walker (A spider tank that travels at 70km/h while ignoring most difficult terrain and can suddenly leap up to 15m in any direction. Armed with a 10mm particle cannon and spike launcher on frontal turrets as well as pistons in every limb that act as climbing/bracing tools as well as puncturing weapons. Protected by 15mm armor.) was exactly the kind of thing Dillon never wanted to see. They were light enough to be able to scale the less compromised structures, and while their spike launcher saw limited success against VS armor, the biggest benefit they gave to the NC was their target marking for the rocket artillery. They were also
fucking everywhere. They were easy enough to take out, but there was always another giant fucking spider sitting in the middle of the road or perched on a roof right around the next corner.
Dillon had been watching out for NC from the wreckage of a downed
Einherjar. The aircraft were another fucking problem.
Hawks were quick to pounce on VS aircraft, but thankfully were relatively limited in urban air-to-ground engagements. That didn't ease Dillon at all. After being part of a losing engagement Dillon and a few of his men found themselves cut off from the rest of the VS, and some NC soldiers had been on their tail for a few hours now. They'd been tracing their pursuers thanks to their easy-to-crack comms. and set up an ambush for them.
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Andres deSilva,
Warlord, was armed with an
"Australia" Modular Battle Platform, a
Basic Nanite Field Generator (A hefty collection of equipment that allows the creation of a nanite field with a 5m radius that currently provides minor healing capability, faster weapons recharge, or an addicting morale boost), and two
UBM-Wellington Mk.2s. He was leading a small team of volunteers to hunt down some VS who'd been harassing their forces as they pressed forward. They were coming out of an alley and trying to cross a wide street when they'd come under fire, with the second and third men crossing the road getting shot down.
"Under the wreckage!" shouted the soldier who'd made it across. Andres peeked out and fired his
Australia, but laserfire came back at him from multiple angles and forced him back into cover. There was one fucker camping under a downed aircraft, but there were a half-dozen more hidden in the surrounding buildings. Andres slapped one
Wellington Module into the
Australia and another into the
New Zealand.
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Dillon watched the alleyway the NC had just come out of. The NC soldier firing at him had reappeared, this time firing rounds with a light blue glow to them. They stuck to the walls around the windows some of his own men were positioned in before detonating in a bright flash a moment later. Dillon took a shot and his laser pierced the
Warlord's thigh, dropping him to a knee. The wounded soldier fired into the air before Dillon put him down with a shot to the chest. As he prepared to fire at the next NC to pop out, he felt a
thunk on the top of his helmet and saw a flickering blue glow emanating from it reflecting off of the surfaces around him.
"What the hell is this, some kind of spider? Get it off!" Dillon shouted before the grenade that had been fired from the
New Zealand detonated, immolating him in an impressive blue blast of energy.
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Andres was feigning dead in the street. He'd managed to activate the healing mode on his
Basic Nanite Field Generator before he took the second shot. He was fine, if a little sore, but there were too many enemies watching the open street. Unfortunately he didn't communicate this to the squad's
Combat Medic, who, armed with an
"Australia" Modular Battle Platform,
Basic Medical Applicator, and a
UBM-Clyde II, was not much better at healing than he was. He tried to save Andres though, and that was admirable enough until he took a laser to the brain. No coming back from that until you respawn.
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What was supposed to be a small skirmish son turned into a nasty firefight as the VS attempted to roll through a flank and push the NC back. This wound up pinching Andres and his squad between the guys they were engaging and the enemies rolling their allies back behind them. Haya Truong,
Heavy Assault, equipped with the
"Australia" Modular Battle Platform,
Basic Overshield Generator,
UBM-Bonnie, and
UBM-Wellington Mk.2, was trying to reconnect with the main force alongside Asad Kane, an
Engineer with an
"Australia" Modular Battle Platform,
Basic Repair Tool, and
UBM-Oswald. The pair ducked from doorway to doorway trying to evade the VS, but managed to get pinned down by a pair of
Tormentors that'd turned the corner in front of them. The one armed with an
Illuminator missed the duo, digging a nasty scar along the sidewalk. The other
Tormentor came with a
"Phantom" Anti-Opposition Rifle mounted in the back, and it was rapidly accelerating down the street. Haya had slapped both of her modules into the
Australia and sprayed down the street, striking the approaching
Tormentor with multiple small explosive rounds, disabling a wheel and forcing it to nose into the ground, coming to a stop...
Right next to Haya and Asad. The
Phantom gunner fired, killing Haya with a laser through the center of her chest. Asad managed to return fire, striking the gunner and-
An
MBT-1 "Hephaestus" (A tank armed with a slow-firing plasma cannon. Can move at 50km/h, has 200mm armor, and utilizes an
Alcor on a small forward turret. A dome-headed repair drone at the rear of the vehicle does it's best to maintain the
Hephaestus as it takes damage using a system not unlike the basic repair tool) had joined the battle, obliterating the damaged
Tormentor and rolling over it's slagged corpse. The
Hephaestus took a hit from the
Illuminator that managed to punch a hole in the cannon. It's repair drone made beeping, sweeping, and creeping noise as the thing tried to hold the
Hephaestus together, but it was struggling somewhat. Asad ran out of his cover and took position behind the tank, using his
Basic Repair Tool to aid the repair drone in it's task. The
Tormentor's Illuminator wasn't going to recharge before the
Hephaestus fired again, so they tried to pull back. They failed stupendously once the plasma cannon on the
Hephaestus discharged a second time, turning the vehicle and crew into a burning mass of flesh and metal.
Another
Illuminator had popped up thanks to an
Engineer and fired into the tank, getting a lucky strike and causing it to detonate catastrophically, taking Asad and the poor repair drone with it.
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Once again the
Victory Services' lack of a solid combat aircraft meant enemy aircraft had free reign. While this was more of a benefit for the
Nextgen Consortium than a detriment to the VS, the size of their
"Nebula" VTOL Air Transports meant they didn't quite have the flexibility to drop troops anywhere, so they couldn't quite capitalize on it.
The combat between VS and NC vehicles is an interesting mix of hit-and-run and ambush battles for the most part. They were all generally effective against similarly-classed opponents, though the VS light vehicles were a bit more vulnerable to fire.
Engineers were better equipped than their NC counterparts, and their additional
Illuminators were an additional threat to NC vehicles, while
Infiltrators proved capable of occasionally damaging
Iktomis with enough concentrated fire.
As fighting in the streets became more intense, the direction of the battle depended on the breakdown of opposing infantry. When it came down to it, the
Victory Services had equipped their Certified soldiers in a way that allowed them to better perform their duties, whereas
Nextgen Consortium outfitted their troops to maximize killing potential. This goes exactly as you'd expect.
The
Immolator proves to be the single most devastating weapon, but the room-clearing ability afforded to the NC by their
Wellington Mk.2s could not be understated. The effectiveness of
Light Assaults with guns firing explosive shotgun-like blasts at clearing rooms was nearly on par with the
Immolator. The NC also deployed a good number of
Infiltrators, now equipped with the
"Alcor" Heavy Weapons Platform (A cumbersome heavy weapon with a high-capacity energy cartridge. Features two Behavioral Modules which can be installed in a slot at the side of the weapon. Infiltrators use the Delta Module, causing the Alcor to fire a sustained beam for about a second before safety features cut it off. This can be fired eight times before needing to recharge.) and
Basic Nanite Cloaking System were more numerous than VS
Infiltrators, but they weren't as good at their job, so control of the high ground was leveraged better by the VS.
Without carapace armor protecting them, the NC were more vulnerable to VS fire than the TR, which would have made the VS ability to revive the fallen quite the benefit. Would have, because the crazy bastards used weapons that could fire exploding energy balls, and there's not much you can do for half an incinerated corpse except wait for respawn.
Heavy Assaults were nowhere near as durable as their VS counterparts, but their suppressive abilities outmatched the VS by a large amount due to, again, explosive energy balls.
The battle is ultimately decided by what
isn't present. That is, the
Victory Services lack of air power and indirect fire capability. Having neither has given the NC complete freedom with both.
Nextgen Consortium manages to eek out a win, capturing
Grid D-3 and gaining access to cheaper Medical Equipment. The standardized generalness of the force means they're generally prepared to take someone out, but being able to actually function effectively at their tasks could prevent the VS from swooping in and taking the place right back.
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!!ALERT!!
The suits in charge of the UPA want to see what the three companies can do to apply pressure. You have three more turns of combat before having a new battlefield assigned. If, however, a team ends the conflict early by capturing another team's warpgate, they will win themselves some extra funding in the form of a design credit! The losers will not be left unaided however, and both their actions on the following turn will be treated as if they had Resource Credits!